world view

wow, it's been almost a year since i wrote on my blog.

for now, i'm just going to write down one quick story that i've been meaning to blog...

my eldest sister and my niece came to visit us in taiwan in april of this year. it was an incredible. it was the first time for anyone from my family to visit taiwan. pretty major, since i've lived here more than 8 years. it was a magical time, seeing them discover and experience the wonder of taiwan. now they know why i love it so much. so, long story short, when they were leaving at the end of their visit, they had to fly through narita airport (tokyo) on their way back home, which they had also done on their way here. so i wanted to give them some japanese yen so they'd have some money to use in the airport (you can use US dollars at narita, but you get a better deal if you have yen.) so i was sure i had some yen somewhere from the many times i have had layovers there. i knew i had a plastic baggy of foreign change somewhere, so i started looking for it. where did i put those "strange currencies"? a-ha! i found it, in the cabinet above my desk. i pulled it out, and said "oh, here it is!" i opened the bag and then i saw -- it was full of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies -- all US currency. hmm. my sister said, "wow...world view. world view!" i was amazed. in my mind, had i really segmented american money as "foreign"? is that really my world view? has my own country become "strange" to me? it kinda disturbed me for a while. but of course it makes sense, since i do mostly think "in NT" now, not "in USD," and i haven't lived in the US for years. actually, i've only lived in the US one year post-college, so really only one year of "adult" american life. the story begs the question: would i know how to live in the US as an adult? living in taiwan is so much more familiar. unburdened. light, easy. indeed, not strange at all.